CHILD CARE COUNCIL OF WESTCHESTER INC

Training and technical assistance to improve child care quality *4,024 early care and education professionals attended 249 Council workshops * 41 students were enrolled in the Council's eCDA program (on-line CDA). * In October 2023, 10 early childhood professionals enrolled in the Council's 2023-24 Infant Toddler/ Family Child Care CDA program. In June 2024, 7 students completed the class * In March 2023, 9 students began the Preschool CDA Course, in January 2024 8 students completed course. *In January 2024, 19 early childhood professionals began the Council's 2024 Spanish CDA program. As of June 2024 the course was ongoing with all 19 students remaining in the class. All 19 successfully completed the course in December of 2024. * In October 2023, a virtual early childhood conference was held for 72 participants* 29 child care center classrooms and family child care programs received intensive scale based technical assistance; All of those programs received a quality improvement grant. These grants focused on literacy, language and the cognitive and social emotional development of the children. * In early 2024, 20 programs, including 8 center-based classrooms and 12 group family providers, participated in our Early Literacy Book Bag program funded by the Sexauer Family Foundation. The project was created to promote early literacy for low-income families. This year, families were each provided a home library of 7-8 age appropriate books and a book bag. The families were also given literature on reading at home with young children. Programs participated in a training and technical assistance project, received an assortment of diverse books and language enhancing materials for their programs. * Mental health specialists worked with caregivers in 47 center and family child care programs. The specialists worked on improving the capacity for the caregivers to meet the social and emotional needs of young children. 3 support groups for early childhood professionals met virtually and in- person throughout the year, giving support and encouragement to the valuable caregivers. The Council's two Business Development Specialists interacted with child care providers during the year to assist them in meeting the requirements to access NY State grants, including Deserts, Stabilization and Workforce Retention grants. During the period from July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024, they conducted 2,203 instances of basic technical assistance, 223 hours of intensive technical assistance (defined as in person and lasting at least one hour) and reached out to providers to offer help an additional 318 times.